rev:text
| - As part of the Japanese cuisine boom in Montreal, a refreshing new address named Cocoro, meaning "heart" in Japanese, has been born. The interior is modest but clean, nested in the middle of Mile-End; without doubt the idea is to concentrate on the food, as opposed to many rapidly opening Isakayas in downtown.
With a simple menu as seen on yelp, I was expecting nothing more but simple, good old comfort food. After receiving my appetizer which was a Japanese Carpaccio, I looked around and thought I was in the wrong restaurant. The meticulously presented dish reminded me of a Monet painting, with strokes of natural colors, accentuating the sea bass. The coulis accompanying the dish really stuck to in memory, anchored there by a tangy hint of lime and passion fruit. The pesto might have been unnecessary as it overpowered the taste of the delicate fish.
Next, my tempura arrived, and again I had to remind myself I'm not in a Michelin star restaurant. This was the best dish of the evening. The perfectly seasoned batter was made of corn starch which was so light and crispy you can see thru it. The flavors were so well balanced, even though your mind unconsciously wants to dip it somewhere, it was totally unnecessary. Every bite was a surprise as it enveloped delicate pieces of eggplants, shrimp, asparagus and a fresh squid.
As my shogun rice dish finally arrived, at this point I knew it could not disappoint. The thick broth enveloped every grain of my perfectly cooked pearl-like rice. Since my culinary handicap is that I can't have gluten, I really appreciated the option to replace noodle by rice. Even though it would blow my mind, I hope one day they can offer gluten-free noodles.
I ordered a side of chashu; the fatty ratio was just perfect, that instantly melt-in-my-mouth smoky tender pork really hit the spot. I would just come back, order a dish of chashu over rice and call it a night.
But I couldn't end a meal like this having had the amazing experience so far; yes, greed is my blessing. So I chose the matcha cheesecake. It was so light, so delicate yet extremely creamy since they incorporated so much air in that cream, sitting on a bed of a smooth matcha cake, you hardly feel like you had desert at all. So that last taste sent the right message, see you soon.
Chef Mitsu worked at an Italian restaurant in Shinjuku, the trendy neighborhood of Tokyo, which explained the pesto in the carpaccio and the tomato coulis with the tempura. That is a ballsy move, yet a personal and unique signature move. He also explained to me, they tried with Udon when the restaurant first opened and Montrealers didn't really fell for that, I said well people need to be educated about Japanese cuisine, we can't have a ramen shop at every corner of the street, because that would be boring, except in Japan! And he laughed as he quickly got back to the evening prep.
|